1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of encrypting and decrypting metadata, and a method of and a system for managing metadata, and, more particularly, to a method of and a system for effectively managing metadata using a method for effectively encrypting and decrypting metadata.
2. Description of the Related Art
High expectations exist for the wide use of additional kinds of metadata in future broadcasting environments, because metadata, other than the electronic program guides (EPGs), which have been used in a conventional broadcasting system, will be widely used.
Compared to such simple programs as EPGs, metadata-related information requires more time and money to extract or schedule. Therefore, the cash value of metadata is too high to ignore, and proper metadata management and protection are considered very important. For this reason, metadata is differentiated from conventional EPG data, which can be freely accessed by arbitrary subscribers or viewers surfing on the Internet.
For example, the proper management and protection of user description information in metadata is considered to be as important as ensuring user privacy. As it is important to prevent program information from being illegally duplicated, control of metadata usage, such as user description information, is also important because it is closely related to providing value-added services.
In a conventional broadcasting environment, attention is primarily focused on the type of broadcasting system, e.g., whether the broadcasting system is a terrestrial broadcasting system, a satellite broadcasting system, or a cable broadcasting system, when tackling the problem of proper management and protection of media data. In such a conventional broadcasting system, where metadata is used for the purpose of providing media data, usage of metadata is not performed through any type of proper management and protection mechanism.
However, certain pieces of information that are included in metadata, for example, program review information and segmentation information, require much more effort to establish, and thus need more restricted usage rules than other pieces of information in the metadata. In addition, in the case where metadata includes a user's personal information, such as metadata usage history, a third person, for example, a service provider, is required to abide by rules established by the user in order to use the user's personal information.
Given the variety of expected usage of metadata in a broadcasting environment in the near future, proper management and protection of metadata are extremely important.
As an increase occurs in the amount and complexity of information, which can be included in metadata and used for a broadcasting system, proper management and protection of metadata becomes a greater issue. However, an effective method for managing and protecting metadata has not yet been proposed, and thus it is hard to effectively protect metadata with the current level of technology.